Shieldalloy appeals slag ruling

NEWFIELD — Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation filed for an appeal Tuesday in an attempt to overturn a federal court ruling that granted New Jersey regulatory authority over the cleanup at the company’s West Boulevard toxic waste site.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal agency that oversees the remediation of sites like Shieldalloy nationwide, has twice granted the state authority to dictate the fate of the metal alloy production company’s eight-acre, four-story-high pile of low-level radioactive material.

Shieldalloy has worked to block New Jersey from taking on oversight of the decommissioning since 2009, when the state was given authority by the NRC.

“We have looked at this issue multiple times now and New Jersey did all the right things in terms of becoming an Agreement State, and we don’t have any concerns about their nuclear material program,” said Neil Sheehan, NRC spokesman. “They (Shieldalloy) are entitled to due process, which includes the right of appealing our decisions ... it’s up to the courts. The courts will have to decide if they are satisfied with the actions we have taken and actions New Jersey has taken.”

The state wants the “slag pile” – production debris containing traces of thorium and uranium – to be hauled out of New Jersey and to a nuclear waste storage facility in the Midwest. The Utah-based company Energy Solutions provided quotes in court matters in 2009 that estimated the removal and railway transportation of the waste to cost about $45 million.

Shieldalloy argued the cost is too steep, especially since the NRC would have allowed the company to cap the materials on the site with a protective barrier and monitor the pile for 1,000 years. Shieldalloy has estimated the plan to cost about $17 million.

“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the proper jurisdictional authority to review and oversee the decommissioning of the site,” said Shieldalloy spokesman Noah Lichtman. “The safest solution is, and always has been, on-site placement of the radioactive materials under a suitable protective cover and long-term monitoring.”

If the courts rejects Shieldalloy’s appeal and upholds New Jersey’s agreement state status, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said the state will not back down from its sticking point that the debris be shipped to Utah.

“We have just begun to fight and we have to continue to fight,” said state Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-3, of West Deptford. “It’s too important of an issue to concede.”

Sweeney said Shieldalloy’s filing of an appeal on the United States D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was no surprise to the state or the NRC.

“We knew they were going to do this. We knew it was coming,” Sweeney said.

The state senator said Shieldalloy is abusing Newfield and the court system to delay cleanup of the West Boulevard site.

“The courts are there to be heard,” Sweeney said. “In this case, instead of hearing it because they have been wrong, they are using he courts to abuse the community. Usually the courts are a place for solutions. But now it’s being used to drag their feet.”